JEDDAH, 6 January 2005 — During exam days, students become creative not only in their study but also in inventing new ways of cheating. The time of studying gets wasted in preparing the ideas and tools to cheat.
Educationists claim that no excuses can justify cheating. Cheaters receive punishments in all schools that differ according to the degree of cheating.
According to a headmistress, ways of cheating vary according to different academic stages. In elementary school, fear of failing and punishment of their parents if they did not attain high grades in exams, control their attitude.
“Elementary students use naïve ways to cheat. They exchange signs, look at each other’s papers, or tell answers to each other,” she said. Intermediate students use scraps of paper to write on the needed information and put them under the exam paper or in the desk’s drawer. Secondary students write on desks, or on rulers and tissues to exchange them. “They sometimes write on their socks, or pretend an excuse to go to the bathroom,” she added.
Ahmad, a professional cheater, remembers the days of school saying: “When I was in school, I used to scratch the data on a transparent ruler, so that it won’t appear,” he said. “My friends used to write on their under thobe pants. They read what is written through thobes,” he added.
New techniques nowadays are added to the art of cheating: “My friends and I use mobile phones turned to the vibrating tone with an ear phone covered under our thobes and shumakh. When one of us finishes the exam, he calls and gives us the answers,” said Abdullah, a secondary student. “However, this way is really dangerous,” he added.
Mona, a secondary student as well, says: “We agree on certain signs with our hands, and knocks on desks, or coughing between us before we enter the exam; this way only helps in true and false and multiple choice questions.”
“I used to hide pieces of paper in my socks to use them when needed. I was once caught by the supervisor. She stuck the scrap of paper to my exam paper and then canceled the answer I copied from the paper. I then promised myself not to cheat again,” said Lamia.
Arab News asked Maha, a curriculum supervisor in a private school, if students’ assessment depends only on exams that prompt them to cheat. “There is no disorder in the assessment, especially with the new system now that depends on doing projects, searching for information on their own, attendance and other types of activities which makes the assessment fair enough for students,” she said. “I think cheating is a matter of showing off boldness and courage in breaching exam rules. It is also to show sincerity and support to friends and to win popularity in class,” she added.
According to Salha Ahmad, a religion teacher, students who depend on cheating to pass exams do not follow the Islamic laws. She said: “Cheating is cheating in all its forms. It is a sort of stealing something that is not of one’s right.” She added: “Awareness campaign must take place to explain that cheating in exams is forbidden in Islam and that it is equal to commercial and other sort of cheating.”
“When a student is seen cheating, we let her continue the exam and attach the cheating tool then we discount the grade of the question she copied from the tool. We also ask her mother to come to school and let the student sign a letter promising not to repeat the behavior again. If she cheated again, the student would be dismissed from school. However, when we suspect an attempt for cheating, we warn her. There are different punishments for cheating that vary according to the different degrees of cheating. It sometimes reaches dismissal from school for a whole year,” said an academic counselor in a private school.
